The Museum of Natural History

Today was another museum day. We spent all of it in the Smithsonian which consists of 17 DC museums. Today we hit the Museum of Natural History as well as the Castle (original museum) and a short time in the Arthur M Sackler Gallery and the National Museum of African Art. These places are huge and free. What a natural treasure.

I have wanted to visit the Museum of Natural History most of my life. It seems that almost every kid in the Northeastern U.S. had the same idea today. I was impressed at how many people they could get in to the place and how many of them were kids. I will admit that they did a great job with the crowds and rarely did we have to stand in line. The real fun was trying to take a photo of something without including someone’s head.

The movie “Night at the Museum” was filmed here and in case you forgot, there are reminders in every direction you look. All the museum stores have just about everything you could want as collectables for the movie.

This guy greets you when you come in.

If you saw the movie you know this guy. He loomed over us in the main entrance to the dinosaur exhibit.

There is a special display of Korean folk history.

This is a traditional Korean wedding dress.

I did not know the Hope Diamond was on display here. Getting a shot at a moving display in low light with about 100 other people was a challenge. While this isn’t the best photo, it was the best I got.

This is an African mask from a huge collection of masks in the Museum of African Art.

This is a reconstruction taken from a body found in a lead casket in Virginia. It was buried about 1640 and nothing is known about her identity.

I took about 100 photos today and this small selection really doesn't do it justice. Some of you may notice that all my photos are close up. I actually broke my short lens a couple of weeks ago so I can't shoot any wide angle shots. That's a huge liability when photographing tall wide buildings. Oh well.... this is an opportunity to buy that lens I really want.